The present invention relates to information collection, management and dissemination systems; more particularly the present invention relates to facilitating the collection, the management, and the dissemination of information needed by emergency response personnel to contain a dangerous situation and/or to minimize loss of life, injury, or the destruction of personal property. Additionally, the information may be disseminated to other parties needing the collected data for planning, analysis, and decision making.
In the past several decades, the public has become increasingly aware of the environmental and health risks caused by the inadvertent release of a variety of substances and chemicals. Accordingly, those substances and chemicals which are harmful are generally referred to as hazardous materials by various government agencies such as the EPA, OSHA and the DOT. One estimate reported that hazardous materials are manufactured, used, or stored at some 4.5 million facilities in the United States.
Because of the potential threat to health, safety, and property posed by even the presence of safely contained hazardous materials in a community, federal, state, and local governments have instituted xe2x80x9cright-to-knowxe2x80x9d laws and regulations wherein even the mere presence and location of certain identified hazardous materials must be reported to various federal, state and local government agencies.
Information regarding the presence and location of certain identified hazardous materials is extremely helpful to the following:
i) manufacturers and other commercial entities;
ii) various governmental departments;
iii) fire departments (particularly hazardous material accident response teams);
iv) law enforcement agencies;
v) emergency medical services;
vi) state and local emergency planning organizations;
vii) municipal planners;
viii) various non-governmental risk management organizations (e.g., insurance companies, safety consultants); and
ix) real estate developers.
Not only is this information helpful to the organizations listed above to identify potential dangers, but also this information assures that local governments have the necessary protective materials in place along with personnel having proper training to respond to crises involving hazardous materials.
A particularly dangerous situation can occur when there is a fire, a spill, or an inadvertent release of a hazardous material at a shop, a factory, a warehouse, a place of business or facility which includes spaces where hazardous materials are stored. The potential for injury is reduced if firemen or emergency response personnel are forewarned of the type and location of hazardous materials which may be burning, leaking, or are in imminent danger of exploding, releasing, or spreading into unprotected areas.
Because of the clear advantages associated with forewarning firemen, other emergency response personnel, and the community at large of the type and location of hazardous materials to be encountered in an emergency situation, many local governments, state governments, and the federal government require every user of hazardous materials to report on the type and location of the hazardous materials on a regular basis, typically once per year. Such hazardous material reports and risk management plans have become known as xe2x80x9cTier Ixe2x80x9d reports, xe2x80x9cTier IIxe2x80x9d reports, Risk Management Plans and Business Plans (for the purpose of responding in the event of an emergency). These reports are generally submitted, on paper, to a number of government agencies along with a required filing fee. Paper copies of the filed reports are typically kept by the government agency in a notebook or in a filing cabinet. New or updated reports are required whenever the storage location of hazardous materials is changed or at the expiration of the predetermined reporting periods.
Supplementing the hazardous material reports are the files maintained by local government agencies, typically a fire department, which reports are typically created or updated during a visit or inspection of the facility. These reports called xe2x80x9cpre-plansxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cpre-fire surveysxe2x80x9d often contain site maps or floor plans and other data that emergency response personnel need to know when responding to an accident at the facility. This information covers, but is not limited to, the following:
i) gas, water, and electrical cut-off locations;
ii) elevator locations;
iii) hydrant and standpipe locations;
iv) hazardous material storage locations;
v) access/egress routes;
vi) risk management plans.
With a xe2x80x9cpre-planxe2x80x9d in hand, emergency response personnel can better determine the safer course of action to either access or avoid and area and how to best respond to an incident to save lives, minimize injury, and avoid the destruction of property.
However, information about hazardous materials, once reported, is of no use if it is not made accessible to those who need the information. It has been estimated that some 850,000 xe2x80x9cTier IIxe2x80x9d reports, in paper form, are prepared submitted annually in the U.S. Those who have the greatest need for the information contained in the hazardous material reports are firemen or emergency response personnel. These firemen and emergency response personnel who must be able to identify and ascertain the location of hazardous materials in a shop, a factory, a warehouse, or in a place of business on the way to a fire or a similar calamity. When emergency response time is short, difficulties are exacerbated. Accordingly, there is a need to provide a system which will provide the reported information as to the nature and reported location of hazardous materials and other site specific information for emergency response personnel on the way to the site of the emergency.
Further complicating the situation is the fact that most firemen and emergency response personnel are not trained chemists or chemical engineers. That is, most firemen do not completely understand all of the hazards associated with the various substances and chemicals that may be stored in a shop, in a factory, in a warehouse, or in a place of business. Specifically, it may not be known if the hazardous material emits toxic fumes when burned or if special fire suppressant materials may be needed. Some hazardous materials may be poisonous or present a significant bio-hazard or have dangerous reactions if exposed to common agents such as water. The type of information can be particularly important when selecting the type of protective clothing chosen by a fireman to provide appropriate or recommended protection at the site of the fire. In some cases, the usual fire retardant clothing may be acceptable, but in other cases, complete containment cover and breathing apparatus may be necessary. Once at the site of the fire or incident, the fireman needs to know how to properly handle the hazardous materials. There is a still further need to supplement information concerning hazardous materials and their reported location with yet additional information concerning the nature of the hazardous materials, details of the response, action taken, personnel involved, and other site-specific information.
Once a fire has been controlled, there may be a need to file an incident report which describes the location of the hazardous materials, conditions encountered, and actions taken. Such incidents can be very complex and oftentimes contain inaccuracies. There is, accordingly, a need to simplify the preparation and submission of post-event incident reports.
While the foregoing has great applicability to situations involving hazardous materials, the same need exists for emergencies occurring in residential dwellings and other structures or locations. Because the needless expenditure of seconds in an emergency situation can mean the difference between life and death, it would be extremely beneficial for emergency response personnel to be able to learn, on the way to a fire or a similar calamity, if an infirm person may be located in an upstairs room, whether or not an infant may be sleeping in a back bedroom, or if animals or pets are located on the premises where a fire may be raging or where some other type of emergency may be occurring.
There is, accordingly, a need to be able to collect, manage and disseminate information to emergency response personnel, in a secure manner, concerning the likely location of people in a dwelling house so that emergency response personnel can go directly to the location where an infirm person and an infant may be sleeping.
The system, method and apparatus of the present invention enables the collection, management and dissemination of information needed by emergency response personnel to the emergency response personnel at the time when it is most neededxe2x80x94between the receipt of a call for help and the arrival at the scene of the emergency. In addition, the information needed by emergency response personnel may be disseminated either pre-incident or post-incident to facilitate planning, analysis, and decision making with regard to the effective use of resources for both risk avoidance and risk management.
The system, method and apparatus of the present invention is built around a secure database. Access to the information in the secure database is only given to authorized personnel; however, the information contained in the secure database is organized to:
i) increase the effectiveness of emergency response personnel once on the scene of the emergency;
ii) enable emergency response personnel to properly protect themselves against the hazards encountered at the scene of an emergency;
iii) reduce the time necessary to minimize the potential dangers at the scene of an emergency;
iv) visualize the reported location and nature of hazardous materials in the community;
v) discover nuances concerning the stored data and data collected during incidents;
vi) enable emergency response personnel to visualize the effects of a spill or release of hazardous materials;
vii) prevent safety hazards having to do with types, storage locations, proximity to humans, etc. of hazardous materials;
viii) provide the capability to data mine the database to perform risk management, accurately price insurance policies, and to reconcile reported hazardous materials with claims for damages;
ix) provide data to facilitate community planning and zoning activities.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the information included in the secure database is from the following categories:
i) information identifying a facility;
ii) information identifying the hazardous materials stored at the facility;
iii) information specifying the location of the hazardous materials stored at the facility;
iv) information describing the chemical properties of the hazardous materials stored at the facility;
v) information concerning facility details, layouts, access/egress routes and other site-related information.
In an alternate embodiment of the invention, the information in the secure database may be the location of a person with infirmities such as an elderly or bedridden person, the location of a child or children, the location of pets or livestock, and other site-specific details such as gas, electric and water cut-offs, as well as designated meeting places determined by the occupants.
When an incident is reported by a fire department, a hazardous material spill response team, emergency medical technicians, or a rescue team gain access to the secure database using a wireless or other communication device. This immediate access to information in the secure database enables the emergency response personnel to review information on the location which has already been reported a variety of public entities, decide the best course of action, outfit themselves with the proper protective clothing and gather the necessary equipment to protect themselves, be most effective at the scene of the emergency, and waste no time addressing the threats to people and property once at the scene of the emergency.
En route to the scene of the emergency, the emergency response personnel can continue to learn about the nature of the situation to be encountered as well as recommended procedures for approaching the danger. Specifically, if there are hazardous materials present, a wireless or other communication device will facilitate learning about the dangers associated with the hazardous materials through publicly available information resources.
The system of the present invention may also be used to assist with the completion of both pre-incident and post-incident administrative tasks.
Because the secure database of the present invention includes all of the necessary information for the completion and filing of required hazardous material reports, the addition of software to extract the stored information and put it in a format usable to satisfy government pre-incident reporting requirements is enabled.
Either during or following an incident, adding information to the secure database about the incident to the information already stored in the secure database, together with software to extract the stored information and put in a format usable to satisfy governmental post-incident reporting requirements, is enabled. Because the secure database of the present invention includes all of the reported information on hazardous materials in the community, the addition of data warehousing and data mining software can analyze the stored data for correlations, observations, and other intelligence not readily available from the current paper reporting environment.